"Is het de maand september?"

22 Comments

Because the sentence specifies "Is het de maand september", sure you can imply the month both in English as in Dutch, but in general on Duolingo it is best to not leave out or add words to sentences because they may or may not have been implied.

I see, but in English we'd more commonly say "It is September" or" It is the month of September". Consider how unnatural this would sound in English: "The store will be closed for the month August". I understand that in Dutch you do not write it this way, I'm just looking for clear explanation why. And if we don't include the of/van here, what else do we exclude from sentences that are commonplace in English sentences? I cant find anything online :(

I'd be willing to bet French is the source of that quirk. Brief history lesson: English has the same germanic roots as Dutch (and German), but has a strong French influence thanks to the Norman invasion of Britain in the 11th century. One of the reasons why stuff English has completely different names for animals and their cooked forms.

That said, my impression is that very little, if any, French grammar made into English. Maybe this is an exception.

That said that said, "Is it the month September?" is still understandable, just not commonly worded that way. I assume it'd be similarly awkward but understandable in Dutch or German with an extra van/von. The addition of 'of' doesn't change the meaning of the sentence.

'The month September' is not something I have ever heard; it sounds like bad, unnatural English. 'The month OF September' is something I would hear all the time. Or 'the month IS September' or 'Is the month September' (not 'is it the month September'), but words are clearly missing in 'the month September' by itself.

People would say: "Is the month, September?" but it is more natural for English speakers to say: "Is it September?" however, I do use "month OF September" all of the time and OP is quite wrong in that aspect.

Thank you for your input. However, if you are of the opinion that your sentence should be accepted I would advise you to use the functions provided by Duolingo. Namely, the Report a Problem function that is provided with each sentence. Thanks.

To say: " no one in English says month of September " is utter nonsense. Let poetry and song inform us. Check out: Stephen foster: in the merry, month.... How is May inserted in what follows? How about William Byrd: this sweet and merry month... What comes next? How about Thomas Morley? Now is the month..
If these are not persuasive, then please, those of you who say this is never said in English, please provide examples of native speakers of English of saying or writing this the month May, or is this the month September?

How common would this Dutch sentence be vs. the version omitting "maand"? Used more often / about the same / one tenth as often?

I ask in part because the English equivalent version, if grammatical, is certainly exceptionally uncommon. A Google search for "is it the month of" (in quotes) yields only two non-duplicate results followed by an actual month name.

Googling the Dutch versions also yields a significant difference in the number of results (some 265 vs 41 million.) Living in South Holland, I don't recall ever having heard "Is het de maand september?" so I wouldn't even put it on 1/10. Exceptionally uncommon.